Appalachian Dulcimer Anime Drawing
Written by Teresita Blanco (The Artsy Sister)
Today it seemed like a good a time as any to show you this nice drawing of mine. It features a maiden playing the Appalachian dulcimer. Most folks have heard of the Appalachian Mountains, not so much of the dulcimer. It is just one of those instruments that most folks are not even aware that it exists.
Since drawing musical instruments is a bit of my thing at the moment, I made the effort to show you this instrument you probably know nothing about. This fretted string instrument is part of the zither family.
It comes with either 3 or 4 strings. The instrument was created in the 19th century by Scottish-Irish immigrants settling in the Appalachian mountains. Due to poor records about the instruments, the identity of the creator of this dulcimer is not known.
It is believed that those settlers tried to make violins, but they lacked the tools and time to make them. So, instead they made the Dulcimer. The oldest known dulcimer was made in 1880 by Edward Thomas of Knott County.
It was used as a type of parlor instrument, and in small home parties. As time passed, the instrument started becoming rarer. There was no audio record of its existence till the late 1930s.
It gained a bit of attention when folk singer Loraine Wyman sang an Appalachian song using the instrument. She even appeared in Vogue magazine with it. In the 60s, it reached true popularity when Jean Ritchie used it to sing before New Yorkers.
As with most things the popularity was short lived. It has returned to being just a folksy musical instrument that makes a cameos in small venues from time to time.
Folks really should give this instrument some more attention. It sounds nice, and there are plenty of a variations of this instrument. I bet you can make fun music with it.
The drawing itself was made with coloring pencils and fineliner pens. I hope you find my work quite amusing. I hope it inspires you to give thins instrument with such a lovely name a chance.
